Ishāq, said: My uncle said, ‘We believe that Allah is upon the Throne however He wills and as He wills, without any limit or description that a describer could encompass, or any limit anyone could assign Him. Allah’s attributes belong to Him and come from Him, and He is as He has described Himself:

“No vision can encompass Him”—within any limit or bound—“but He encompasses all vision.” (al-An‘ām: 103)

He is the Knower of the unseen and the seen, the Knower of all hidden things. No description by any describer can encompass Him, and He is as He has described Himself. Nothing pertaining to Allah is bounded, and no one can encompass His power in knowledge. He has mastery over all things through His knowledge, power, and sovereignty:

“There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.” (al-Shūrā: 11)

Allah existed before anything existed. Allah is the First and the Last, and no one can reach the limits of His attributes.’”

He said: “And ‘Alī ibn ‘Īsā informed me that Hanbal related to them, saying: I asked Abū ‘Abd Allāh about the hadiths that are narrated: ‘Allah, Blessed and Exalted, descends every night to the lowest heaven,’ ‘Allah will be seen,’ and ‘Allah places His foot,’ and others similar to